Shinjitsu
by Echoing Mist
Summary: Shinjitsu - An Itachi Fanfic - Truth is a curious thing. You spend your life running away from it...yet it demands to be told.


Shinjitsu

Truth. Itachi spends his life running away from it. But sometimes…sometimes the truth demands to be told. Introspective.

Note: Scene starts at the end of manga chapter 575

-Line Break-

"_The Edo Tensei must be stopped…"_

He sped through the trees, seemingly flying as his feet propelled him forward. His hair billowed and whipped against his face, though he did not seem to notice. His face was set in stone, only looking forwards, a single intention on his mind, his last mission. He was determined to complete it.

As the forest around him sped by, he thought he felt something…no, he must be wrong. That couldn't be it. His neck tingled.

Suddenly, a flickering of chakra, so familiar he would have known it anywhere…_Sasuke._ His eyes widened a fraction of a millimeter. Memories he thought he had banished flashed though his mind: Sasuke as a toddler, chasing cats ; Sasuke in the academy, no longer as young, but still adorable, _begging_ him for training lessons; Sasuke that night, blood pooling on the floor, looking at him with fear, despair, _hate-_ He cut himself off. But before he could dispose of the memories, one last glimpse rose to the surface of his mind…

_Rain. _

_Blood._

_A hand, _his _hand, reaching out…no, not the eyes. He did not want the eyes._

_A last poke._

_More blood, a small rivulet streaming from where his finger touched._

_Wide eyes._

_A smile._

_The hard ground._

_Blackness._

A wave of tumbling emotion, raw and powerful, rose up. But he'd had years of practice, and he suppressed it, not a single emotion escaping to his face. His face was stoic, as always, just a mask.

_Wide eyes._

_A smile._

He remembered the one time since _that_ night he had a genuine, content smile. It was not a mask then, he had thought he did not have to lie anymore, it was over, he let his mask fall, let the barriers and lies disappear.

Death did not need masks.

How wrong he had been.

"Wait!"

His eyes flickered to the side, instinctually, though he did not need to. He knew that voice, once, when it was higher, filled with the carelessness of childhood. He knew that voice, when it was happy, bright, eager to please. He knew that voice, raised up in anger, in indignance, in fury. He knew, even when it was begging, asking, calling, like it was now.

"Itachi, is that you!?"

The voice he knew so well questioned, called out. It was demanding, incredulous, different from the tone before.

He stayed silent, for he could not trust himself to speak. Memories hovered around his mind, only a thin layer of determination keeping them out.

"I said wait!" The voice was angry now, furious. "Are you listening to me!?"

His eyes betrayed his will, once again flickering to the side, searching for just a glimpse of his beloved little brother.

A giant, purple Susanoo arm lashed out, grabbing, desperate. Itachi swatted it away with a single flick of his mind, his own Susanroo activated.

He felt surprise emanate from his younger sibling. His traitorous eyes flickered again. Sasuke was behind him, a shocked expression on his face. As he watched, the shock morphed into a look of determination.

"That Susanoo…So…you really are Itachi…!" Both of the Susanoos' dissolved.

Itachi looked back, wanting to give some sort of acknowledgement, some act of caring, of love. Something an older brother would do. But he was not dead, was not going to die yet, so he had to keep the mask on, hide the truth, shield Sasuke all he could. He was still in this world, and though his body was just a pile of ashes, held together by a jutsu, his soul, his consciousness was that of a living beings'. Until he fell apart, scattered to the wind in a million pieces, he would be alive, he would have to keep the secret, he would have to protect Sasuke.

And that meant he could not let his mask crack, nor let his emotions show.

"…Incredible…To think that you would also be able to use this technique." There. That would be all he could say, the closest thing to a compliment, a brotherly gesture. He wanted to say more, tell Sasuke that he was proud of him, that …he should not be thinking like this. It was perilous.

Sasuke gritted his teeth. "Why are you here!? You should be dead!"

The comment stung, but Sasuke deserved an answer. After all he had been though, he _needed_ an answer.

"This is Kabuto's jutsu…I was revived by the Edo Tensei." He leaped past another branch, landed, repeated the action. _I am getting closer…Sasuke should not be there when I fight Yakushi. It would be dangerous for him. _"I cannot stop now…I have important things to do." It hurt to say the words, but nothing could be discerned form his monotonous tone. The phrase sounded convincing, even to his own ears.

"I don't care about that! Now that you are in front of my eyes…there are tons of questions I want to ask you!"

_Sasuke…you have always been so impatient… _"Even if I tell you to 'leave it for later', you wouldn't listen to me." It was the truth, Itachi thought with a nostalgic mental smile, reminiscing their childhood days together. Sasuke had never listened to a 'no'…

"Do you remember what you said to me!? 'When you have the same eyes as I do, come before me!' So why are you running away now!? Are you feeling guilty because you lied to me!? Or you don't have the courage to tell me the truth!?" Sasuke was rambling now, hoping for an answer, any answer.

Itachi stayed silent, quiet. Sasuke couldn't stand it anymore.

"I already knew everything about you! That's why I decided to crush Konoha!"

Itachi felt a sinking sadness in his chest. _Sasuke…you are still young and easily convinced. How easily I forget that…Please, don't become like me. You have so much potential. _ "I already told you this when we fought…people live their lives bound by their own convictions…If you are not able to think it that way, of if you don't know if your reality is an illusion or not, then the truth about me in reality is…"

"I'm not living in your illusion anymore! I can see through your genjutsu now…BECAUSE THESE ARE YOUR EYES!"

Something throbbed in the center of his chest, right where his heart would be. But surely, there was nothing there…he was just a reanimation, he should not have a heart.

That was what he told himself, yet the heaviness in his chest did not go away.


End file.
